Friends, Enemies, and Hospital Beds
by Arielle Valentina Carmen Brook
Summary: When Gabriella Montez, now a successful doctor, gets a sharp awakening from the past, what will happen to the life she was used to? Minor Troypay, Zekepay, and Ryella major Troyella! R&R!
1. Prologue

**Hola! I decided to right ahead and start a new story, even if I do decide to go further on the other one. I tried to write this from Gabriella's point of view, tell me if you like it! By the way, this chapter is kind of like a prologue to the story. - Arielle Valentina Carmen Brook **

I walked to the bathroom, trying to ignore the fact that it was one in the morning, my 34th hour working at St John's Hospital in a row, and I was exhausted. I had just delievered another baby, a beautiful little girl called TeKia. I cleaned up, splashed my face with cold water, and got another cup of coffee.

To some people, I might seem crazy, working so hard. This is my life now though. There's no more time for the things I did in high school, like having a boyfriend, going out shopping with friends, musicals, or pretty much anything fun. Now it was all work, but at least it stopped me from thinking about my heartbreak and all the people who had betrayed me in my last year old high school. I never had time to ponder what Troy Bolton, my first and only boyfriend, had done.

I'm not going to think about that now, though. I walked out to my car, a black BMW convertible, and drove to my apartment, which was about 10 minutes away. As I unlocked my door, I groaned out loud. My apartment was filled with red roses for the 3rd time that week, which would be sweet, except for the man who was sending them was just about the worst person in the world to be sending them. I had known him since high school, and his name is Ryan Evans. He'd been calling me and sending me roses and asking me out for dinner for about a month now. You'd think a man would stop after a while! These roses were just a damned nuisance. They left their petals all over the place and gave me so much to do after clearing them up.

I decided to just leave them this time, though. I couldn't be bothered to do anything. I was too tired, so I just made my way through all the roses filling up my two-room apartment and collapsed into my bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.

When I woke up later that morning, my pager was beeping. I groaned, checking the time on my watch, which I still had on. 5:49! No wonder I was so tired! I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep! I pulled myself up and realized I had left on my clothes from the previous night. I sniffed them, figured I smelled alright, so dragged myself to my car.

After the short drive to the hospital, I was met at the front door by my friend, Chandra. She told me that there was a lady here to see me, wanted to make sure her baby was doing alright, etc. I said I was happy to do it, since it was just the regular stuff, and I could easily do it when I had had absolutely no sleep. As we took the elevator up, we talked about the usual things. Recent patients, silliest names parents have given the babies we have delivered, everything that one would have to talk about in a hospital. When we got up to the waiting room outside my floor, I walked out of the elevator, and almost fell over because of my shock. Sitting on one of the chairs was a fakely blonde, only barely pregnant woman wringing her hands. As she looked up, her eyes got almost as wide as mine and her mouth dropped open.

It was Sharpay Evans.


	2. An Unexpected Visitor

**Hey guys, this chapter's a little bit longer. The last one was a prologue, like I said. Please review!!! Reviews are what keep me going haha. -Arielle Valentina Carmen Brook**

Sharpay Evans! This was horrible! Last time I had seen her, she had been happily holding hands with my ex-boyfriend, laughing loudly with my friends, and showing off her valedictorian certificate, which she had cheated her way into using the answers that she had stolen from ME, along with everything else good in my life!

"G-Gabriella? Is that you? You look so… so… different!" Sharpay stuttered, clearly not over the shock of seeing me again yet.

_Yes, that would be because I'm happy, I'm confident, I'm successful, and I don't have some evil blonde prep trying to destroy my life, _I thought. Of course I couldn't say that, though, so I just said, in my sweetest voice, "You too, Sharpay! Of course, you seem to have put on some extra pounds! Let's go check on that baby now, and we can catch up…"

"You two know each other?" asked Chandra, clearly surprised that I associated myself with people like that. I saw her look Sharpay up and down, from the too-tight-for-a-pregnant-woman hot pink tank top, the designer purse, the big sunglasses, and the matching hot pink high heels. She raised on eyebrow.

"Oh yes, we knew each other very, VERY well, don't we Sharpay?" I said, my voice raising a little at the end.

"Um, yes, well. Can we just go check on my baby, please?" Sharpay asked, clearly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was currently going.

"Of course… go into that room over there and I'll be with you in just a moment."

"Alright. Goodbye Miss…" she muttered, addressing Chantal.

"DeMono. Have a good appointment, Miss…" Chantal started, then, after checking her papers, "Oh, excuse me, _Mrs._Bolton."

My heart lurched. Mrs. Bolton?! I wanted to cry! That meant that after high school she had kept in touch with _him_… and now they were married! It was bad enough that she had ruined my high school years. But now she was going to try and ruin my new life? My life free of Troy Bolton, free of Sharpay Evans, free of Taylor McKessie, free of everybody that had ever made me suffer during high school! How could she do this to me?

But then I thought of something even worse. If she was now married to Troy… and she was on my floor… asking to have her baby checked on… that meant that she was having a baby with Troy! _MY_Troy! And that baby was going to have Sharpay's blonde hair and Troy's electric blue eyes and talent as a basketball player and everything. How could this happen?

"Ex-ex-excuse me, please, _Mrs._Bolton," I mumbled, trying to hold back tears as I strode to the bathroom. I started weeping the second I got in there, but I'm not really one to cry normally, so it was over quickly and I was out of the bathroom in enough time for someone to think I just had an upset stomach. My eyes have never really swollen up when I cry.

When I entered the room I had told Sharpay to go into, she was sitting on the hospital bed nervously, her hand on her stomach.

"Look, Gabriella, I don't know if you'll be able to let go of what I did in high school, but I want you to know that I'm truly sorry."

"Oh yes, I can see that, _Mrs._Bolton. You clearly seem so remorseful, you're married to the man you made me miserable about and are having a baby with him. Obviously you feel terrible. Anyway, I'm not interested in what shit you have to tell me. All I'm interested in is the baby. Now, please lie down and I'll do everything necessary."

As Sharpay did what I instructed her to, we went through the whole process with as few words as possible. As I saw the baby, I was slightly suspicious. It didn't really look as though it shared a mixture of Sharpay's genes and Troy's genes.

"Are you positive that this is Troy's baby, Sharpay? I mean, it kind of –"

"Yes, yes, of course I'm positive! Who else could be the father? Of course it's Troy!" she assured me. But it sounded rather more like she was reassuring herself.

"Okay, okay. I suppose since you are married to him. I just have to check something in your files, if that's alright…"

"Why? Do you have to?"

"Well, yes, I need to know how long you and Troy have been married, things like that. For the record."

As I walked out of the room, she seemed very nervous, starting but not finished several sentences. I went onto the computer and looked up "Sharpay Evans." All I found on her record was something about treatment for an STD a few years back, but nothing about a spouse. I looked up Troy Bolton. There was a picture of him, smiling, which I quickly scrolled down to cover, but still nothing about a spouse. That was odd. As I walked back to the room where Sharpay was, I asked her about it.

"Sharpay, there's nothing about a spouse anywhere on your or Troy's records. Why is that?"

"Fine! I admit it! I'm not really married to Troy. We just live together, so I go by Mrs. Bolton. Is that so wrong? It's as if we're married, anyway. We live together, eat together, sleep together, everything. We might as well be married!" Sharpay almost yelled, clearly getting upset.

That relieved me to no end, knowing that they weren't married. The lump that had been in my throat all morning, since her appearance, disappeared. I didn't know why, because I knew I could never get Troy off of her especially tight leash, and I wouldn't want to, but it did make me feel better.

"Alright, that's fine, Sharpay, there's no need to get upset about it. Why don't you come in for a checkup again next week, and we can follow the development of your baby. Are you about 4 months pregnant now, or longer?"

"Actually, 6 months. I'm due in 3 months. It's quite nerve-wracking, all this baby shopping and yoga!"

"Yes, yes, of course. Okay, well I'll see you later. Byebye, Sharpay! Oh, and by the way, if you need any help, feel free to call my cell phone, (081) 473-1183."

After she left, I sat in silence for a while in my office, and eventually fell asleep. I awoke, however, to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I had had this old cell phone since high school, and there was one number that whenever it called, it played a particular song – Breaking Free. So I thought I was dreaming when I woke up, hearing Troy's voice singing, "soaring, ooh flying, to get to the place to be all that we can be…" in a cheap recording we had done on the cell phone in drama once. I picked it up though.

"Hello?" I asked, tiredly, as I had forgotten about that certain ringtone.

"Gabriella? It's me, Troy."


	3. The Lunch Date

**Hola amigos! I'm trying to make this story more interesting than my last story, which was my first fan fic. Please review! The only things that keep me writing these are the reviews & story alerts. So please, please review if you want this story to keep going! I would really appreciate it! - Arielle Valentina Carmen Brook**

"Gabriella? It's me, Troy."

My heart was thumping in my chest, I didn't know what to say, and my head was pounding, and I had just woken up. Let's just say that I wasn't exactly in the best state to talk to my ex-boyfriend, the only boyfriend I had ever had, who I had just found out was having a baby with my enemy.

"Troy? Oh, um, hey," I slurred my words together, doing my best to sound calm. I think I sounded more drunk, though.

"Hi. Sharpay told me your number. I didn't realize it was still the same from high school!"

"Oh, er, yea, after paying for medical school, a new cellphone wasn't exactly on my highest priorities."

"I understand. Anyway, I was wondering if you were free for lunch?"

"Will Sharpay be there?"

"No, she has some yoga she has to do every day around 11."

I almost sighed in relief. Instead, I said, "Oh, what a pity she won't be joining us. I'd love to come to lunch."

After making arrangements for when and where to meet, with a nervous fluttering feeling in my stomach all the time, we said our goodbyes and I was left, wondering how I had managed to end up leaving from a hospital for a lunch date with the previous love of my life.

When I got to the café they had arranged, I anxiously went inside. There, at the first table, was Troy Bolton. A little older, fitter, and more mature-looking, but definitely Troy Bolton. I felt my breath leaving me as I relived some of the best and worst moments of my high school years, knowing that Troy had not yet seen me.

_As they waited backstage for the curtain to open Gabriella, pretty near to hyperventilating, told him that she couldn't do it, that she couldn't sing in front of all those people. _

"_Shh…" he whispered, putting his finger to her lips. "It's okay, I'm here for you. Don't let them get to you, just imagine that you're only singing with me…" he trailed off as he leaned forward, kissing her. She felt a shock of electricity all throughout her body as she had her first kiss. Some people might say it's pretty sad, having your first kiss at 17. But she thought that as long as it was with somebody like Troy Bolton, it didn't matter how old you were. _

_When the curtain opened, Gabriella was flushed, pretty, and confident. She sang her part with strength and enthusiasm. _

"Hey, Troy!" I said, happy with that memory in my mind. As he turned to me, smiling, I swear my heart stopped.

"Gabi! Wow, you look amazing! It's been so long!"

I blushed at the compliment and the use of my high school nickname, which nobody had used for me in the past 10 years. "Yeah, I know. That it's been so long, I mean. Uh, not that I look amazing," I blushed more, stumbling with my words.

"Haha, yeah, I know what you mean. Oh, sit down! I ordered you a cappuccino since that's what you always liked before. Sorry if I was wrong."

"No, no, that's great! I can't believe you remembered!" I said, trying not to blush too much.

"So, how _are_ you? I mean I know you're a doctor, but what else? Do you have a boyfriend now? I'm sure you can't have been single for this whole time!"

Couldn't help myself, I blushed some more. "Actually, I have, and even though Ryan's been after me, I don't really want to go out with him right now. There's not really much else, though. But how are you? Other than looking forward to being a father."

"I'm fine, but Shar's kind of strangling me with all her rules. She always calls me during basketball practice, I'm a coach now, and she'll almost never let me out of the house without her. I don't really know what's up with her, but I hope she snaps out of it. I think it's probably just the baby."

"Oh, yeah," I responded, but the way he said "the baby" made it sound more like an imaginary thing, the way one might talk about a fairy unicorn or a flying pig. I wasn't really sure how to react to this, and the rest of the lunch went past with few sensitive topics about our senior year in high school touched and almost nothing shared except a few things about our lives now.

"Okay, Gabi, I guess I'll call you later then. See you 'round!" Troy said as we both got up to leave. We hugged, somewhat awkwardly, and went in separate directions.

The rest of the day went past without much distinction, unfortunately just leaving me brooding about the meeting. I finally got into bed that night around 9:50, taking advantage of one day when I wasn't working for over 24 hours.

_Gabriella turned the corner, going to her and Troy's usual meeting place on the roof. As she got up to the last stair, thinking about what they would talk about, she heard a noise. It sounded like one of the flower pots had fallen over. As she got completely up the stairs and turned around, she saw what had caused the flower pots to fall. It was Troy and Sharpay, kissing. _

"_Troy! Sharpay! What are you doing?!" Gabriella yelled, not worried about who might be listening in the level below. _

"_What's it look like, Montez?" Sharpay smirked, pulling herself closer to Troy, who had a distressed look on his face. _

"_Look, Gabi-"_

"_Don't call me that!" Gabriella screamed. "Only my friends can call me that, and you, Troy Bolton, are most certainly not my friend. Stay away from me! Never even talk to me again!" _

"_Aww, look at little Montez. So immature. Listen, Montez, he's with ME now, so don't even try and get him back," Sharpay said, her voice high, moving towards her. As she came close enough, speaking taunting words, Gabriella did something that she would regret for the years to come. _

_She pushed her down the stairs._


	4. Phone Calls

**Hi! I got a few more reviews for the last chapter, which was good, but I really, really need more reviews, guys! If you don't like my story, tell me why and I'll gladly try and make it better. But I really need more reviews to keep this story going, since it can go on as long as I have inspiration, and I lose inspiration without comments. Thanks! - Arielle Valentina Carmen Brook**

I woke up in a cold sweat, reliving that terrible time when I had found Troy cheating on me for Sharpay, when I had pushed her down the stairs, and when all my friends abandoned me.

It made me upset and flaming mad at Sharpay all over again. How could she have lied to everyone about me? How could they have believed her? I mean, did they really think that I was capable of breaking someone's neck with my own hands, even if I did catch them with my boyfriend?

It made me terribly angry at Troy, too, the way he hadn't stuck up for me, except for a few weak protests. And all my friends! Taylor, Kelsi, Jason, Chad, Bridget, everybody, had believed her and left me! I went through all of my last year of high school alone, wearing baggy clothes and obsessing over my grades, and they didn't even care. In fact, they did everything they could for Sharpay. They stole my homework and let her copy it. Taylor wanted Sharpay to beat me out for valedictorian, so she tutored her and let her copy her tests, just to beat me. It made me sick.

But there was nothing I could do about it now. I sighed, deeply, and checked the time. 8:19 a.m. Time to go to work. I picked up my phone on the way out, and while I was leaving the parking lot, I saw that I had 3 missed calls. One was from Troy's number, and the other two were from numbers I didn't recognize. I also had two voicemails.

The first one was as follows: "Hey, Gabi! It's Taylor. Listen, Shar gave me your number, and I just wanted to call you. Wanna catch up over lunch sometime? So, yeah, call me back when you get this! Alright, bye."

Taylor?! What was she doing calling me? She seemed to have forgotten, like everyone else, about high school. She knew she shouldn't be holding a grudge, but there were some things you just could not forget. Sighing, she started listening to the next message.

"Hi Gabriella. It's Ryan. Sharpay gave me your number. Do you want to come out for dinner tonight? Well, call me back if you do. Talk to you later."

_What is with Sharpay giving all these people my number?_ I thought. Since I had that dream, I was not exactly willing to call back Taylor at the moment. It had jolted my memory, however, reminding me that Ryan, despite his sister's lies, had never turned against me. I dialed his number and was actually happy when he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ryan, it's Gabi," I said, deliberately using my nickname.

"Oh, hey, um, Gabi," he said, unsure using Gabi to talk to me.

"So, I got your message, and I'd love to come out to dinner tonight."

"Really? Wow! Okay, well, I was thinking Downey's. Is that okay?" he asked, the joy in her acceptance coming through in his voice.

"Yeah, sounds great. Okay, I'll see you at 8 then?"

"Sure! Bye!" Ryan said, hanging up.

I wasn't really sure if I was going to regret that, but at the moment I didn't really mind.

That day I delivered three babies, two boys named Sammie and and one girl. It was a great day, all in all. I didn't have to work overtime and managed to get home by 5:20. I checked my cellphone again and realized I hadn't called Troy back. When I did, Sharpay picked up and angrily told me that he wasn't home and had probably just been calling about the baby. I could swear I heard his voice in the background, though.

After getting ready for dinner, I left my apartment. Ryan was at the restaurant, courteous and sweet as always.

"Gabriella! It's so good to see you. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm pretty good, thanks, you?"

"Yeah. I still can't believe I'm going to be an uncle," he smiled, but he looked kind of confused.

"I know, it's great, congratulations! I think you'll be great at it."

After we ordered, we started talking about Sharpay and Troy. Although it wasn't exactly my favorite subject, it was interesting to hear what Ryan knew.

"Well, Troy told me that at first he wasn't really comfortable with getting with Sharpay after college. He said he had never really gotten over you," Ryan paused, giving me a meaningful look, and my heart quickened. "But after he thought about it, he realized that you'd probably never forgive him for what he did in 12th grade, and he decided to give Sharpay what she wanted, as everybody always decides to do. It'd do her good to have somebody just tell her no. I know I was a bit of a pushover in high school, but I've changed, I really have."

After a little while longer, I agreed to another dinner date, which I suppose meant we were going out. I kissed him on his cheek goodbye and then left.

When I got home around 10, my pager went off. I went to the hospital and found that there was someone waiting for me there, a 6'7 or so man.

"Zeke!" I cried, really happy to see him. He had transferred to another school in 11th grade, and therefore had absolutely nothing to do with my miserable year. "How are you?"

"Hey, Gabi," he smiled, although he looked pretty sad.

"What's wrong?"

"I- I- I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Of course! I'd do anything for you, Zeke. What do you need?"

"Well, you know how Sharpay's pregnant?"

"Yes, it seems like everybody's reminding me of it," I said, with a bit of an unpleasant tone in my voice.

"I think I'm the father."

**Ooh, another cliffhanger! Reviews, please! **


	5. Realizations

"I think I'm the father."

Zeke? The father of Sharpay's baby? I didn't think that was possible.

"Oh, my god, Zeke! What happened? How is that?"

"Well… we were together before she met up with Troy again. You know how she's living with him now?" I nodded. "That's how we used to be. We did everything together, and she seemed happy. I know I was just as happy as I ever have been. I know to you it might seem like they've been together for a long time, but they haven't. And Sharpay was cheating on me with Troy for a month before I found out, and I think that month is when the baby was conceived. So they both think that it was conceived when they were secretly together, but I'm pretty sure that it was when she was still with me. But I was wondering… is there any way to figure out who's the real father?"

"There are DNA tests and things, but they're pretty expensive. Do you have enough money?"

"Um… well, see, I'm still waiting for my cooking career to come out. I've been spending all my money on ingredients, not on presents for Sharpay, and I think that's part of the reason she left me. We were living in a really small apartment, and when pro basketball coach, rich Troy came along, she went for him instead. But I'm getting a little more popular as a caterer now, and I might have enough money for the DNA tests in a few months."

"Alright, then we'll have to wait and see. Wow, do you know – do you know if Sharpay has any idea that you might be the father? I mean, she sounded kind of unsure when I asked about it, but she did press into me that it _had_ to be Troy."

"She probably does, but she's trying to make herself feel better about it. I mean, if Troy found out that she was doing things like that with me while she was also doing things like that with him, he might be pretty upset."

A part of me wished, inexplicably, that Troy would find out about it and Zeke would get back with Sharpay. I told myself that it was just because Zeke was so much, um, "better" than Troy for Sharpay. But a little voice inside me said that it was because I wanted Troy back. I sighed out loud, knowing that this would never happen and that I was with Ryan.

"What's the matter?" Zeke asked, hearing me sigh.

"Oh, nothing."

"Ella, I've known you long enough to know when there's something wrong. Tell me, please," Zeke pleaded.

And so I told him everything. I told him about how I was still holding grudges from high school, I told him how I thought I was still in love with Troy, and I told him about how I didn't want to hurt Ryan. I trusted Zeke enough, and I knew he definitely wasn't going to go running off to Sharpay and tell her everything I said, unlike almost everyone else.

"I'm so sorry. I know this must be hard for you, having all these people who made your life miserable trying to befriend you now. I completely understand," and Zeke hugged me. He was warm, and I let out the tears that I had never let out in all of my high school career, my college years, and my life as a doctor. I cried for everyone I had ever loved and been betrayed by, I cried for everything. As I wiped my eyes and pulled back, he gave me his phone number and told me to keep in touch. We said goodbye and I added his number to my cell phone.

I found that Troy had called me two more times. I called him back, and this time he picked up instead of Sharpay.

"Gabi! Hey! Sorry about yesterday with Sharpay, she wouldn't let me talk to you. I don't know, she seems to think we'll get back together. Haha, like that'd happen," he said through the phone.

"Oh, yeah, haha, like anybody would every want to go out with _me!_" I yelled into the phone, trying not to let the hurt in my voice show, trying to pass it off as sarcasm.

"No, Gabi, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Troy, I know exactly what you meant," I said, nearly on the brink of tears now. I didn't know what was with me that evening! Not crying for 10 years obviously has some negative effect on a person.

"Gabi, no. Don't be like that! I was just calling to see if you wanted to go out to lunch tomorrow," he mumbled with an urgent tone in his voice.

"No, I'm busy," I said with finality before hanging up on him. I felt kind of bad for doing that, but I really wasn't in the mood for him right now. About two minutes after that, I got a text message from him. _Aren't we a little old for texting? _I thought, but opened it anyway.

_Gabi im sorry. proms i didnt mean it like tht. plz com 2 dinner w me 2mro? if ur busy 4 lunch 2mro. i rly need 2 talk 2 u bout smthn. plzplzplz rspnd._

I sat there, wondering what to do. I had made dinner plans with Ryan, and I didn't want to blow him off. On the other hand, Troy Bolton was asking me out to dinner and he said there was something he really needed to talk about. If it was important… I decided to tell him yes.

_Ok. 2mro at 7.30 dont b late. or ill leav. u no i will :D bi. –xogabi_

I wasn't really sure why I added the xogabi at the end, but I sent the message before I decided against it. I hoped he wouldn't get the wrong idea from that. I also hoped that Sharpay wouldn't start looking through Troy's texts and find that one.

Unfortunately, that hope was not fulfilled, and the next day I got an angry call from Sharpay.

"Gabriella! What are you doing, flirting with my boyfriend like that?" she yelled into the phone. I could clearly hear Troy's deep, protesting voice in the background.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, you're going out to dinner with him, you signed your name 'x o Gabi' at the end of your text message, you really want him don't you?"

I was panicking. What if Troy thought I wanted him and that I was trying to flirt with him, too. Oh no! "No, Sharpay, trust me. I don't want anything to do with Troy! He doesn't want anything to do with me, either. Put him on the phone, please."

"Gabriella Montez, you just"-

"No," I cut her off. "Put him on the phone _now._" I said, ice in my voice.

"Fine!" she said, and next thing I heard was Troy.

"Hello?"

"Troy, dinner plans for tonight are cancelled."

"What? But Gabi, you said"-

"Yes, well, your little girlfriend has something else to say about the matter. Unless you get her to agree to it and get her to leave me the hell alone, I'm never going out to dinner with you again, alright? I'm sure you'll be fine with that, considering that you never _really_ liked me anyway, right?" I questioned him, knowing full well that he wouldn't have anything to say about that. I could tell that he was biting his lip, thinking about what to do.

"Gabi- that's, that's, that's not true, okay?"

"Oh sure it's not. That why you spread lies about me and you suddenly want to be all friendly with me again? No, Troy , I don't think so."

"Gabriella, would you just listen? I – I still want to go out to dinner with you, and I don't give a damn what Sharpay has to say about it."

I gasped a little, and I heard Sharpay screaming her head off at him in the background. I sighed.

"Listen, Troy, you and I both know that you're not going to blow off Sharpay for me. So just give it a rest, okay?"

"Gabriella! That's not true!"

"Oh, is that right?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Yes. You know why?" he said, perfectly seriously. I noticed that I was holding my breath.

"No, I don't, do tell!" trying to sound sarcastic again but failing miserably, my anxiety and hope coming through in my voice, my heart pounding, wondering what he was going to say.

"Because I love you."


	6. New Love

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for the comments, sorry I haven't posted up in a few days. Been really busy with the traveling. Anyway, here's a new chapter, there's not so much of a cliffhanger at the end, only a small one. -Arielle Valentina Carmen Brook**

"Because I love you."

Love me?! Did he really say that?

"W-what?"

"I love you," he repeated. Sharpay was now making more noise than she had at any other point in the conversation. But I realized that even though I really, really didn't like her, I wasn't going to leave her pregnant without anybody else to help her through it, and I knew if Troy kept on the way he was towards me, that's how it would be.

"No, you don't," I mumbled, for a lack of anything else to say in my shock. "If you loved me, you wouldn't be with Sharpay now. You would be with me. You wouldn't be the soon-to-be father of Sharpay's baby. You wouldn't have let Sharpay cheat on Zeke for you. It's clear you want _her_, not me. So stop with the delusion that you care about me in any way, shape, or form!" I continued, my voice strengthening with every word.

"Gabi-" he started, pain in his voice, before I cut him off.

"No! Gabriella! I'm sick of that nickname, and now only Ryan can use it."

"Ryan?!?!" Sharpay screeched in the background.

"Ryan?" Troy asked, much more quietly.

"Yes, Ryan. He truly cares for me and he's being sending me flowers, calling me, and asking me out every since he saw me at the hospital once. And I know that you've been to the hospital before, Troy. We have you in the records. And I also know that you saw me and you did nothing about it, because I saw you too, Troy. And the security guard asked me who you were because he said you were looking at me so much. So why didn't you just talk to me then? You recognized me. I've barely changed, except for my highlights and I don't have you and your buddies trying to ruin my life. So just don't call me again. Don't talk to me. Goodbye!" I yelled and shut my phone. I screamed out loud and hoped that my neighbor, John, would come and complain. Then the tears came. _Oh God,_ I thought, _not more tears._ And for the next half an hour, I just sat around crying._Enough of this!_ I thought as I got up, washed my face, and called Ryan.

"Ry! Hey!"

"Oh, um, hey Gabriella," he replied, but he didn't sound very happy.

"So are you still free for dinner tonight?"

"Well, I guess so. Where do you want to go?"

"Same place as before. See you at 8?"

"Sure. Bye," he hung up abruptly.

Dinner that night was uneventful and Ryan didn't really talk much, his mind was clearly elsewhere. That was fine with me, though, as I needed time to think as well. He kissed me goodbye when I left and not really to my disappointment, there were no sparks whatsoever. Ryan was more of a fallback, anyway, and as guilty as I felt saying it, it was true. I threw myself back into my work, trying harder than ever at everything. And so the next few months passed. I had almost forgotten about the few days of drama with Sharpay and Troy, since I was always too busy to think about it.

Then came the fateful day when a screaming, red faced blonde woman in a wheel chair was wheeled out of the elevator. She was yelling commands at everyone. As you might have guessed, it was Sharpay.

I'll spare you the details of the whole process, but let's just say that there was a lot of screaming, blood, and eventually a baby.

Troy didn't come until after the whole thing was over with, much to Sharpay's anger and dismay. In fact, Zeke came before him.

He rushed in just as I went back into the lobby area to find some blank birth certificates.

"I have enough money for the DNA tests!" he said, excitedly, pulling an envelope from his coat pocket.

"Actually, there's no need…" I replied, leaving him puzzled as I walked into the other room and came back with a baby bundled up in blankets.

"So? Why is there no need?" he asked confusedly.

And so I showed it to him, and he gasped. It was an adorable little girl with green eyes. It was quite obvious who the father was, though; it had an afro.

"Oh… my… God!" Zeke yelled, almost yelling at the end.

"So I haven't really showed this baby to Sharpay yet, since she fell asleep right after the baby came out."

"Oh, is that, you know, normal?"

"Oh yeah. She's fine, don't worry."

Just then, Troy came in, huffing and puffing. He looked at me, then at Zeke, then at the baby in my arms.

"Oh, Zeke, that's such a pretty little baby! Who is the mother? I didn't know you were with someone else! Congrats!"

Zeke stuttered, trying to get out a few words but failing. I answered for him, taking Troy's hand before I started talking. He looked a bit confused at first, but when I started talking, he just listened.

"Listen, Troy, you know how Sharpay was cheating on Zeke for you?"

"Um, yeah, look man I'm really sorry about that, I'm glad you found someone new."

Zeke looked like he was about to say something, but I cut him off.

"No, Troy, he hasn't found anybody new."

"Then who… oh, so its not his baby then?"

"Troy! Will you just listen?" I said, frustrated. Then, in a sweeter tone, I said, "Troy, I'm sorry, but just listen please. This baby… the mother is Sharpay."

"Sharpay?! No, it can't be! I mean, its not… you know… it doesn't look like us!"

"I know, Troy, it doesn't. But it has Sharpay's eyes, doesn't it? And doesn't it also have certain characteristics of Zeke?"

Troy was really quiet for a moment, staring at the baby, trying to swallow what I had just laid before him.

"Wait, so… oh, my God!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry Troy, but it's the truth, I promise. Zeke talked to me about it before, but I didn't want to ask anybody about it until after the baby was born. Turns out, there are no questions that need to be asked."

After a few more minutes of him asking Zeke things and Zeke answering, we went in to see Sharpay. She was sitting up in her bed, anxiously playing with her nails. Not the usual behavior after having a baby, since she already knew that the baby was perfectly healthy from one of the nurses telling her under my command. When she saw Zeke walk in after Troy and me, she gasped and turned pale. Then I showed her the baby and the started spilling out words, none of them explaining anything.

Troy looked pained as she started to explain exactly what had happened and how it was that she was currently holding a little baby which looked nothing like Troy. As she finished, Troy got up from the chair he had been sitting in at the foot of the hospital bed and walked out the room.

Zeke went over to Sharpay to comfort her, and to my surprise, she didn't shove him away. She just sat there, crying over her little baby, until she reached up and pinched on her mum's cheek. Both Sharpay and Zeke started cooing over this lovely little baby, and for the first time in my whole career I wished for something I had never wished for before.

I wished for my own baby.

**Okay, hope you liked this chapter! Review, review, review!**


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